Many Animated Films Draw From Today’s Famous Voices

Probably only die-hard animation fans know who voiced the characters of Snow White and Prince Charming in Disney’s landmark animated film, “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” or who gave Thumper his distinctive bunny tones in Disney’s animated classic, “Bambi.”

Times have changed. These days, even the youngest moviegoers can recognize Robin Williams as the voice of the wisecracking genie in “Aladdin” or Tom Hanks and Tim Allen as the stars bringing toys Woody and Buzz Lightyear to life in both “Toy Story” blockbusters.

With the enormous box-office success of such star-driven animated films as “Aladdin” and “Toy Story,” studios have been increasingly courting high-profile movie and TV performers. Woody Allen, Sylvester Stallone and Gene Hackman lent their talents to “Antz”; Mel Gibson was John Smith in “Pocahontas” and a dashing rooster named Rocky in “Chicken Run”; Jeremy Irons, Matthew Broderick, Nathan Lane and Whoopi Goldberg yukked it up in “The Lion King”; Kevin Kline, Demi Moore and Thomas Hulce headlined “The Hunchback of Notre Dame”; and Kevin Spacey was a deliciously evil insect in “A Bug’s Life.” This summer’s runaway animated hit, “Shrek,” stars the voices of Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz, Eddie Murphy and John Lithgow.

Disney’s new animated family movie, “Atlantis: The Lost Empire,” which opened in limited release last week and goes wide today, also boasts the voices of several well-known stars.

Michael J. Fox, the voice of the mouse in “Stuart Little,” stars in the adventure as Milo Thatch, a naive but determined museum cartographer and linguistics expert who dreams of completing the quest begun by his late grandfather of finding the lost city of Atlantis. James Garner is the voice of the genial, macho Commander Rourke; Leonard Nimoy is the king of Atlantis; Claudia Christian (“Babylon 5”) lends her vocal talents to the role of the cold and sultry Helga Sinclair; and Don Novello, best known as Father Guido Sarducci, is demolition expert and flower lover Vinny Santorini.

“Atlantis” directors Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise, the team who helmed “Beauty and the Beast” and “The Hunchback of Notre Dame,” say they don’t cast famous actors simply because audiences may want to hear their favorite stars’ voices come out of a cartoon character. Wise points out that in the case of “Atlantis,” they hired a range of talent--from Fox and Garner to veteran voice actors such as Corey Burton.

Producer Don Hahn (“Beauty and the Beast,” “The Lion King” and “The Hunchback of Notre Dame”) admits there’s continuing debate whether household names actually are a help or a hindrance to an animated movie.

“I don’t think it matters that much,” says Hahn. “The reason why we have celebrity actors sometimes is that they are really good. A person like Michael J. Fox or an Angela Lansbury [from “Beauty and the Beast”], they bring their talent and their warmth and their comedy to the picture.”

But Hahn believes Disney tries to shy away from using their high-powered vocal talent as a marketing tool. “That hasn’t been the trend for us, which means as a filmmaker I don’t want you to think, ‘Oh, I’m looking at Michael J. Fox.’ I want you to think you are looking at the character.

“My whole approach to filmmaking is that I completely want you to accept this elaborate illusion on the screen as being a reality. So I think part of the mystery in creating a film is creating those personalities that exist only on the screen.”

Hahn’s comments seem to fly in the face of the fact that Disney has heavily advertised the presence of Williams and Hanks in its animated films. “But after five minutes in ‘Toy Story,’ Tom Hanks . . . becomes Woody,” replies Hahn.

Both Trousdale and Wise say Disney hadn’t issued an edict to hire name actors for its animated productions. “That is not to say the studio isn’t happy when there is that wonderful convergence of a name actor and a character,” says Wise.

“There was a time a few years back when studio executives would say, ‘You’ve got to use Tom Cruise or Julia Roberts,’ ” adds Trousdale.

“Generally, what we would say is we want to use the best voice for the part. We would be happy to read these megastar actors for the part, but what we want to do is get the best voice.”

For the voice of Milo, says Hahn, he and the directors wanted someone who could reflect the character’s bookish nature, but also be warm and funny.

“We said, maybe it is a Tim Robbins type,” recalls Hahn. “Then somebody said it was a Michael J. Fox type.”

When Christian and Novello came in to read for their parts, Hahn, Trousdale and Wise wouldn’t look at them during their audition. They were only interested in their voices.

“We look at the drawing on the table, which is often very off-putting for the actors because they make their living with their persona,” says Hahn. “We cover our eyes and look down at the table at the drawing. We are hoping and praying that their voices spring from the drawing.”

Though Garner, Christian and Novello have done voice work for animated TV projects, “Atlantis” marks their first experience doing a feature-length animated film.

So what drew them to the animated genre?

For veteran Garner, doing an animated film meant he didn’t “have to go into makeup. None of that stuff. You just go into the sound department and you start recording. You are working in a different kind of medium.”

Christian found it liberating to be in the recording studio on a one-to-one basis with the directors. “You are much less inhibited--much less self-conscious. You are more apt to find the joy and freedom in your voice. Creating a character strictly with your vocal cords is liberating.”

Novello agrees with Christian. “Because you are all alone you tend to be freer,” he says. “If the whole cast were there, you wouldn’t have that attention or wouldn’t feel as free to try different things, to spin off and improvise.”

“We try to keep the recording sessions very loose and relaxed and informal,” says Wise. “Don Novello is kind of the comedic equivalent of a jazz musician. You write a line and he just riffs on it.”

Novello recorded his scenes over a three-year period. “None of us had the script,” says Novello. “It was top secret. They give you your lines. They tell you what’s going on in the scene but I really didn’t know the whole story. So that is kind of interesting to see the movie. I was pleasantly surprised at what happened [in the movie].”

During each recording session, the filmmakers videotaped the actors. Those tapes would be sent to their characters’ animators. “The voices of the actors invariably start to influence the character,” says Wise.

“You’ll see little characteristics of the actors [in the characters]--the way they might arch an eyebrow or use their hands while delivering a line. The contribution of the actor and the imagination of the animator kind of come together in this bizarre synthesis.”

Christian says that ultimately actors do animated films for the prestige. “It’s not for the money,” she says.

Hahn adds: “I think the other reason they do it--I first started hearing about it from the Angela Lansbury types--is that it is a lasting medium. They know if it’s done well like ‘Beauty and the Beast,’ the movie will be around after we are all gone. She wanted to do it for her grandkids.”